1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of generating images or multi-media documents from digital data. More specifically, the present invention relates to receiving multimedia documents containing a variety of data formats and outputting the multimedia document in a variety of formats.
2. Description of the Related Art
Data projectors are well known and have become commonplace in the home and business environment. Conventional data projectors are designed to display electronic documents formatted in a projectable image format like RGB or CYN. Typically, a “host” personal computer (PC) or laptop computer is physically connected to the projector such that a presentation document is hosted on the “host” PC and then sent to the projector for display on a screen. A user controls the desired appearance of the presentation document through the laptop or PC.
A conventional projector 102 is shown in FIG. 1 and includes a memory 104, an image processing unit 106, a display controller 108, a system controller 110, a video decoder (codec) 114 and optics 116. The system controller 110 of the projector 102 receives raw video data 112 (like RGB data) and stores the data in the memory buffer 104. The memory buffer 104 is used to store the data in various formats before use by the video decoder 114, the image processing unit 106 and the display controller 108. Once stored in the memory buffer 104, the video decoder 114 converts the raw video data into a format that is understandable to the image processing unit 106. After conversion by the decoder 114, the video data is converted to pixel and color data by the image processing unit 106. Finally, the display controller 108 and optics 116 use the pixel and color data to generate an image in light output by the projector 102 and displayed on the screen 118.
A distinct disadvantage with conventional projectors occurs when a user is preparing to display a presentation. The user must first verify that the particular software program (or application) that created the multi-media document is available on the laptop or PC that has been selected to host the presentation. Oftentimes, the particular specialized applications available on the hosting PC or laptop are quite different than the applications available on the PC or laptop where the document was created. Supporting multiple copies of costly multi-media applications on multiple PCs or laptops is possible, particularly for organizations like public schools and small businesses where only a limited number of licenses to a particular software application might be available. Another disadvantage relates to the resolution of the display of a multi-media document on a conventional digital projector being constrained by the resolution of the PC or laptop that is hosting the presentation.
Like data projectors, printers are also well known and have become ubiquitous. Conventional printers are designed to print electronic documents formatted in a standard printer language, like postscript or printer control language (PCL). These types of printer languages are standard within the printer industry, thus allowing universal compatibility with a variety of machines manufactured by a variety of different companies. Documents rendered in a standard page description language (PDL) such as PCL or postscript, describe the page to be printed in terms of primitive shapes which are interpreted by the printer's own controller. A conventional printer typically ignores any non-PDL data content contained within a document to be printed when an image is being rendered.
A conventional printer 202 including an input/output (I/O) controller 204; a memory unit 212; an image processing unit 208 coupled to memory unit 212; a print codec 214; print engine 206; and a system controller 210 coupled to the I/O controller 204, image processing unit 208, print codec 214, memory unit 212 and print engine 206; is shown in FIG. 2. Input/output controller 204 receives and directs incoming raw image data 225 (i.e., a description of a document in a language understood by the printer 202, such as PCL or postscript data) to the system controller 210 for distribution and storage in printer 202. Raw image data 225 is converted (if necessary) by the print codec 214 and the image-processing unit 208 renders the converted data, at a print element level, in preparation for the data to be printed as document 220 by the print engine 206. Memory unit 212 is available to store multiple decompressed data print files for printing, based on the order in which the Input/output controller I/O 204 receives the incoming image data 225. For example, memory unit 212 allows the printer 202 to receive data faster than it can be printed such that the printer 202 can do another task while printing continues.
Unfortunately, postscript, PCL and other PDLs are not designed to support embedded multimedia content (i.e. motion video, audio, still images, graphics, animation, text, etc), which is a common data format for many conventional presentation and entertainment based software packages. The primitive nature of the postscript language does not allow for is use when creating a presentation document, particularly ones that contains video, audio, or animation. Therefore, conventional printers are traditionally not capable of interpreting and printing documents containing multimedia content due to the fact that conventional printers are configured to receive documents formatted in the aforementioned standard printer languages that have a format of a single image per page. Also, conventional printers, and conventional projectors for that matter, are designed to support documents formatted only in their particular individual formats (i.e. PCL or RGB but not both). Standard printers and projectors have not been combined to form a multifunction output device that is capable of receiving data in a variety of different formats and outputting this data in any particular format requested by a user.
What is needed is a digital projector/printer system for receiving a document containing multi-formatted data, independent of the software application from which the document was created, and outputting the multi-media document in a variety of formats.